Clothes-pounder



(No Model.) t F. T. ROQTS.. CLOTHES POUNDER. i No. 332,838. Patented Dec. 22, 1885.

11 s, 'JED UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

FRANCIS T. ROOTS, OF OONNERSVILLE, INDIANA.

CLOTHES-POUNDER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 332,838, dated December 22, 1885.

ApplicatiOn filed November 28, 1884. Serial No. 149,909. (No model.)

citizen of the United States, and a resident of Oonnersville, in the county of Fayette and State of Indiana, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Clothes Pounders, of which the following is a specification.

This invention is an improvement upon the clothes-pounder for which Letters Patent No. 305,335 were granted to me September 16, 1884. The upwardly-closing valve is actuated by a spring to close it. The spring is liable to get out of order or loose its tension, and, besides, is expensive.

The object of my present invention is to dispense with the spring and provide a means to positively close the valve upon the downward stroke of the pounder, and truly guide it to its seat, and also to relieve it of all pressure upon the upward stroke and insure its opening so soon as the upward movement commences.

With this object in view my invention consists in providing the valve with a guide-rod, which comes slightly below the bottom of the pounder when the "alve-is closed, so as to be pressed up by the clothing in the vessel.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a central vertical section of clothes-pounder embodying my invention. Fig. 2 is an inverted plan view of the same.

The body of the device A is a cone-shaped sheet-metal vessel providedwith' the customary handle socket, a. The valve-seat'B is a frustum of a cone inverted and secured to the inner wall of the body A, which, with the valve 0, when it is closed, forms a chamber in the upper part of the body A. The wall of the body A is perforated above the valveseat, to admit water into this chamber, the weight of which will force the valve from its seat, and thus relieve the vacuum caused by the downward pressure of the pounder, when the pounder can be lifted up without lifting any of the clothing with it, thus the labor of using the pounder lightened, and the usual splashing prevented. The lower portion of the cup is divided by radial webs D, which are secured, respectively, to the walls of the body A, and a central tube, E, which serves as a guide for the tubular valve-stem F, which is secured to and projects down from the con cavo-convex disk-valve O.

The object of making the valve 0 with the upturned edge is to insure a more perfect seatupon the lower end would accomplish the same result, but would be more liable to get out of order.

What I claim as new, and desire to secure herein, is-

1. Asanew article ofmanufacture, aclothespounder consisting of a hollow open-bottomed vessel, A, provided with a water-chamber having in its side walls open ports and a horizontal upwardly-closing valve, to close against its seat and form with it the bottom of said chamber, and a valve-stem projecting downward to the bottom of the body when the valve is closed, substantially as shown and described.

2. In a clothes-pounder, the combination, substantially as specified, of the hollow openbottomed vessel A, the chamber formed by the valve-seat B and valve 0, when it is closed, and the side Walls of the vessel, the open ports for said water-chamber, and the valve-opening in the bottom of said chamber, with the webs D, valve-guide E, valve 0, and its stem F, said stem constructed to guide the valve to and from its seat, and to force the said valve against its seat upon the downward stroke of the pounder. Y

FRANCIS T. ROOTS.

Witnesses:

PHILIP J. REIFEL, J r. (3120. J. MURRAY. 

